© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES – When the Giants and Dodgers play each other, they rarely combine for an uneventful series. When it’s the first time that the two face each other, there’s an added get-off-the-snide motivation. It fittingly added a little extra mustard for a series that begun with the Dodgers selling $1 Dodger dogs. My completely unverified sources from within the organization told me the Dodgers’ expected to sell 80,000 tonight.
The 40,477 Dodgers fans who came to conquer those $1 dogs probably thought they’d see an equivalent sort of easy conquering against the Giants. Through four games, the Dodgers (3-2) laid an aerial assault down on the Arizona Diamondbacks with 14 home runs, 50 hits and 41 runs. Over that same period against the Padres, the Giants (2-3) mustered a single home run and five runs overall. Again, this took place over the same four-game stretch.
As Bruce Bochy put it before tonight’s game when asked about the Dodgers’ offense: “I don’t want to think about it.”
*LA reporter asks Bochy what he thinks about the Dodgers’ hitting
Bochy: “I don’t want to think about it.” pic.twitter.com/YJkucKAAvw
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 2, 2019
But, in true annoying-the-Dodgers fashion, the Giants stepped up like they had not yet done in the early season. Once a stellar Julio Urias (who, at age 22, was making his first start since 2016) was pulled out of the game for Joe Kelly, the Giants took immediate advantage. The switch brought the Dodgers a pinch-hit home run from Alex Verdugo on the offensive side, but the pitching change was nothing short of a nightmare.
Over a two-inning span, the Giants torched Kelly and Scott Alexander for four runs, leaving Dodger fans to drive home with nothing but a bunch of cheap hot dogs in their bellies. The cause of those bellies full of disappointment can largely be attributed to Brandon Belt.
Belt snaps cold streak in assertive fashion
Entering tonight’s game, Belt was 1-for-11 with a walk and four strikeouts. The cold start came after a fantastic, healthy spring training from the southpaw first baseman, during which he batted .370 with four home runs, eight RBIs and six walks (and 10 strikeouts).
Belt put a swift end to that abbreviated quiet spell tonight, taking advantage of the pitching change which lined him up against Kelly, who, in his first few Dodger days, is not a fan favorite. Belt led off the sixth inning with a solo shot to left-center field that caught most of the crowd in Dodger Stadium well off their guard.
Kelly forced a groundout and pair of strikeouts to end the inning, but was bombarded in the seventh after seemingly setting himself up to escape unharmed following a leadoff single. Yangervis Solarte was driven home in two-out fashion by a pinch-hitting Pablo Sandoval, who, at age 32, seems as youthful as ever at the plate (the same cannot be said on the basepath).
After a double from Steven Duggar sent Sandoval to third in just slightly slower fashion than the way Duggar arrived at second (with Ron Wotus having to throw up a late stop sign to keep Sandoval tethered to third), Belt drove the pair of them home with a double into the right field gap. It gave the Giants their first four-run game of the season, and a 4-2 lead.
It wouldn’t have been a typically hot night for Belt without a great defensive play. He obliged that expectation in the bottom of the eighth when he snagged a potential extra-base hit away from Corey Seager and secured a 1-2-3 inning for Tony Watson.
Pomeranz gets through five weird innings with limited damage
Drew Pomeranz did not start tonight in particularly flawless fashion. He threw 44 pitches through the first two innings – in large part to 12 first- and second-inning foul balls – but recovered surprisingly well in the following two innings. He did not keep the Dodgers off the basepath effectively, but he managed to avoid putting himself in serious run-scoring trouble.
While he was tagged for a pair of home runs in the fifth inning, that was the sole offensive output for the Dodgers. Pomeranz was fortunate enough to isolate those two solo shots and managed to secure as many strikeouts as hits allowed:
Gott now in for Pomeranz, who had an odd night, but ended up allowing just 2 runs – 90p/57s (63%), 6 hits, 6 K's, 1 walk, 2 ER, both solo home runs, had 44 pitches through the first two innings, but recovered nicely before 5th, then escaped with two straight K's #SFGiants
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) April 2, 2019
Pomeranz was followed by shutout innings from Trevor Gott, Mark Melancon, Tony Watson and Will Smith, who, combined, allowed just two Dodgers to reach base and a single hit.
Joe, Reed still searching for that first hit
Connor Joe is probably having a harder time than he deserves in his first few major league games. After tonight’s performance, he’s now 0-for-10 with five strikeouts and a walk through his first five MLB games. Michael Reed must feel much the same way in his 0-for-8, five strikeout start to the year.
Before the game, in which Reed sat and Joe started, Bochy was asked about both young outfielders. He said he’s talked to Reed about his struggles and plan to play in upcoming games.
“Right now, I have (Reed) scheduled to go tomorrow,” Bochy said. “I don’t want to sit him too long. I’ve already talked to him tomorrow, but with a lefty going tomorrow it could be center field because Duggar’s going to need a day this road trip, so you may see him there tomorrow.”
Joe has seemed the more dangerous hitter at the plate thus far, and was robbed of what would have been his first major league hit when he ripped a ball into the shift in the second inning. While Kike Hernandez was perfectly positioned for the ball, it still required a fantastic stop to secure the out.
Here’s what Bochy said about Joe before the game, and whether Joe needs to be more aggressive at the plate.
“It’s a fair question, because it’s such a fine line where you want their approach, but… I think you have to be a little bit more aggressive (in the majors) because you’re less apt to walk, but you don’t want to go overboard on that,” Bochy said. “But ideally, especially in the early going, you want them to kind of keep their same approach, but it’s all about adjustments up here, and if you’re taking some good early pitching in your zone, where you’ve had a lot of success, then you need to let it go. And he’ll do that.”
